Various Artists - An Alternative Hendrix (1990)

I was listening to my New Fast Automatic Daffodils 'Peel Sessions' album the other day, and was reminded at just how great their take on 'Purple Haze' was, which in turn prompted memories of another couple of Hendrix covers by new wave/alternative bands that I'd always loved - 'All Along The Watchtower' by XTC and 'Foxy Lady' by The Cure. I wondered if there were any more punky versions of Hendrix's songs out there, and found that although there have been two tribute albums released, with 'Stone Free' in 1993 and 'If Six Was Nine' in 1990, they seemed to concentrate on more mainstream groups to contribute to them, and so I only had to borrow four songs from the latter to flesh out this collection of re-imaginings of Hendrix classics by some of my favourite new wave/alternative bands. 

Track listing

01 Purple Haze - New Fast Automatic Daffodils
02 Can You See Me - Thee Hypnotics
03 Stone Free - Supergrass
04 Are You Experienced - The Mock Turtles
05 Who Knows - Bevis Frond
06 Foxy Lady - The Cure
07 Love Or Confusion - The Screaming Trees
08 Hey Joe - Patti Smith
09 All Along The Watchtower - XTC
10 Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - The Membranes
11 Crosstown Traffic - Richard Hell & The Voidoids

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - The Peel Sessions (1992)

While they were an active group, New Fast Automatic Daffodils recorded three sessions for the John Peel show, in 1989, 1990 and 1992, the first two of which were compiled onto the album 'The Peel Sessions' in 1991. For this second post from the band I've located their third session to make a nice 42-minute album of new songs, alternate versions, and a cover of 'Purple Haze' that rivals XTC's cover of 'All Along The Watchtower' from their debut album. 

Track listing

01 Purple Haze (John Peel session 1989)
02 Man Without Qualities II (John Peel session 1989)
03 Jaggerbog (John Peel session 1989)
04 Big (Instrumental) (John Peel session 1989)
05 Get Better (John Peel session 1990)
06 Part 4 (John Peel session 1990)
07 Man Without Qualities One (John Peel session 1990)
08 Bruises (John Peel session 1992)
09 Kyphos (John Peel session 1992)
10 Music (John Peel session 1992)

New Fast Automatic Daffodils - Music Is Shit (1991)

The New Fast Automatic Daffodils (or The New FADS as they were later known) was formed in 1988 by former members of the punk rock group Pariah, Dolan Hewison, Justin Crawford, Perry Saunders and Icarus Wilson-Wright. The name comes from a poem by Adrian Henri that mixed an advertisement for a yellow Dutch car with a Wordsworth poem, and although they were often associated with the 'Madchester' scene of the late 1980s, they were never really part of that scene as their music was more angular post-punk than indie-dance. The band's debut single 'Lions' was released in 1989 on Playtime records (then home to Inspiral Carpets), followed the same year by the 'Music Is Shit EP', and in 1990 they signed to Play It Again Sam Records for the 'Fishes Eyes' single and their debut album 'Pigeonhole'. Further singles followed in 1991 and 1992, and their second album 'Body Exit Mind' came out in October 1992, reaching No. 57 in the UK chart. In 1994 the band shortened their name to New FADS and released two more EPs and a final album, before splitting up in 1995. This album is made up of songs from those early 12" EPs, plus a rare contribution to a 1990 Various Artists compilation, and arguably contains some of their best work (I'd forgotten how good 'Lions' is).

Track listing

01 Lions (single 1989)

02 Fate Don't Fail Me Now (b-side of 'Lions')

03 Your Dreams My Nightmares (b-side of 'Lions')

04 Beam Me Up (from the 'Music Is Shit' EP 1989)

05 A Man Without Qualities (from the 'Music Is Shit' EP 1989)

06 Music Is Shit - Parts 1-3 (from the 'Music Is Shit' EP 1989)

07 Jaggerbog (from the Various Artists compilation 'Home' 1990)

08 Big (Baka) (b-side of 'Big' 1990)

09 Fishes Eyes (Underwater) (b-side of 'Fishes Eyes' 1990)

10 White (b-side of 'Fishes Eyes' 1990)

11 Pigeonhole (b-side of 'Get Better' 1991)

12 I Found Myself In Another Room (b-side of 'Get Better' 1991)